Countertop blenders are an essential tool in any kitchen because they do so many jobs, from making smoothies to soups, nut butters to batters. Some can even act as a juicer, making blenders a highly versatile appliance. Whether or not you need a lot of bells and whistles, there are plenty of great choices at every price point. ConsumerSearch editors evaluate expert and user reviews to find the best blenders, for a crowd, or just for you.

Best blender for general use

The Breville BBL605XL Hemisphere Control dominates professional tests, expert "best of" lists and user reviews because it can keep up with commercial-quality blenders at less than half their price. It excels at tough tasks, such as crushing ice, creating veggie/fruit smoothies, and blending frozen margaritas, yet it also whips up quick, consistent pestos, soups and yogurts. It gets top marks for durability. The BBL605XL comes in brushed metal, and versions in Sesame Black and Cranberry Red are also available; all make for an attractive addition to your countertop.
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Best blender under $100

One professional test organization gives the Ninja Professional NJ600 its top recommendation, while another calls it "A fierce-looking multitasker with sleek lines." Owners like it too, saying that it makes superior smoothies and excels at crushing ice and other heavy-duty jobs, such as making nut butters. Some say it's so easy to use they allow their children to make their own shakes.
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Best heavy-duty blender

The Vitamix 5200 is considered the gold standard of blenders and it's the one you want if you're a serious cook or just happen to be a person who uses your blender for many tasks. The Vitamix 5200 purées everything until it's silky-smooth and can even grind grains and blend hot soups. It's incredibly durable and comes with a seven-year warranty. Five color options are available.
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Best single-serve blender

Owners love the versatility of the Cuisinart SmartPower CPB-300. It's a powerful performer that can quickly blend a batch of morning smoothies in the 32-ounce jar, or a single serving in one of the included travel cups. The smaller chopping cup chops herbs and grates cheese. This small blending machine was even able to hang with its larger counterparts in a top test.
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Budget single-serve blender

Forget about pouring coffee into that travel mug, the Hamilton Beach Single Serve Blender can make a breakfast-to-go that will fit into your cupholder. Fast and efficient, it's one of the best-reviewed single-serve blenders by both experts and owners -- even outperforming much pricier models. It's great for commutes or just for those who are the only smoothie fans in the house. The 51101B is offered in black; three other color options are available. A version in stainless steel is also offered, but costs more.
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See a side-by-side comparison of key features, product specs, and prices.

Blenders are a versatile appliance that can make short work of many tasks

Blenders are no longer just for whipping up the occasional milkshake or smoothie. The top blenders can knead dough, chop nuts, make flour or nut butters, and even wrangle cold blocks of cheese into a usable size and texture. Blenders are popular at parties for their ability to whip up frozen drinks with a quick whirl. However, if all you want to do is get your daily shake or smoothie fix, there's a blender for that too.

The best blenders for general use handle most blending jobs well. However, as Ry Crist at CNET notes, "There are a lot of blenders living in that middle ground of too cheap and too expensive -- if you're looking to hit that sweet spot with an upgrade, it can be hard to tell where to turn."

Most blenders in this particular category range in price from less than $100 to about $200, but there are surprisingly few of them that get really good reviews for performance. Part of the issue is that owners seem to expect a $150 blender to perform like a $450 blender, and that simply will not happen. If you want a heavy-duty blender, you have to budget the money to buy a heavy-duty blender. With the exception of our top pick, the Breville BBL605XL Hemisphere Control blender (Est. $200), which gets ratings that put it up there with blenders costing twice as much, blenders in this class do a good job with traditional blending tasks: Making fruit smoothies and other frozen drinks, blending sauces, pureeing and whipping. However, don't expect them to create the silkiest textures, produce the most even consistencies, or power through kale and other leafy veggies.

If you only use your blender occasionally, or don't really need it for challenging tasks, like making nut butters or flour, you probably don't need to spend more than $100. There a lot of highly-rated blenders for less that are great choices for making batches or smoothies or frozen drinks like margaritas, as well as light food prep. Blenders in this class tend to do very well in tests for ice-crushing, but don't score as highly in test for consistent blending of ingredients that need a specific texture, like pestos, salsas and creams.

Heavy-duty blenders are the powerhouses of the blending world. Costing upwards of $200, and more often upwards of $400, these are the countertop blenders that you need if you want a blender that can do it all. The best blenders in this class can grind grains into flour, blend hot ingredients, heat cold ingredients, and turn out perfectly silky purees. They also do well with things like salsas, where a consistent, yet chunky, texture is important. These high-end machines can even replace your juicer because they can pulverize leafy vegetables, like kale. They'll last for years and tend to be easy to use and clean.

Single-serve blenders are popular with smoothie fans. These small blenders are just loads of fun, reviewers say. Pop your smoothie ingredients into the easy-to-use container, blend, remove the cup, and drink. Most come with travel mugs so you can take your smoothie on-the-go. Some models are individual units, while others are larger units that include one or more individual serving cups, making them both a full-sized (although not full-performance) blender and a single-serve blender. There are single-serve blenders in a variety of price ranges, although most are well under $100. We found several great budget choices that cost less than purchasing one smoothie at a snooty juice bar. And, of course, they're not just limited to smoothies. They can also make smaller milkshakes and frozen drinks as well.

Blenders aren't the only appliance that can come in handy in the kitchen. If most of your blending involves making emulsions or blending ingredients on the stove, a hand blender will be a great tool for you. This is merely a stick with a blender at the end and it's highly portable so, instead of bringing the ingredients to the blender, you bring the blender to the ingredients. If you rarely blend, but you cook or bake a lot, a food processor is almost a must have, as it makes short work of a huge variety of food preparation tasks. Are your only blending interests making a wide variety of smoothies? Then you definitely need a juicer, which has a dedicated process for grinding out every last bit of juice, nutrients and enzymes from soft and hard fruits, as well as the most challenging leafy vegetable. Each of these kitchen tools is covered in its own ConsumerSearch report.

Finding the best blenders

To make our top picks in countertop blenders, we analyzed blender reviews from nearly two-dozen sources to find the toughest, most effective choices. Experts at ConsumerReports.org and Cook's Illustrated (also known as America's Test Kitchen) thoroughly test blenders, powering through everything from ice cubes to fibrous frozen pineapple to find the sturdiest blenders with the smoothest results. We also consulted comparison-test results from Good Housekeeping, Wired, CNET, SweetHome.com and Men's Journal.

One shortcoming with professional reviews is that they typically only analyze a given product over a short period of time, and under sometimes ideal conditions. Because of that, we also consulted hundreds of owner reviews, which are a great resource for learning about real-world performance and long-term durability. The results of our research is a roundup of the best blenders for any lifestyle need.

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